Apparatus for handling ingot-molds.



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8. T. WELLMAN &. H. w. LASH. APPARATUS FOR HANDLING INGOT MOLDS. APPLICATION FILED DEG.19, 1912.

1.,O73,1 96, Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

F 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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S. T. WBLLMAN & H. W

. LASH.

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING INGOT MOLDS.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.19

x 0? 0 f O Mf/W Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

S. T. WELLMAN & H. W. LASH. APPARATUS FOR HANDLING INGOT MOLDS.

APPLICATION FILED 17130.19, 1912. 1,073,196. Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Z z'7 5 20 0 Rf Wizzesau PEN/57224071 @fiWM M J Wm ing drawing and hereinafter-fully described e noaanee.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

. THE LIQUID- FORGED STEEL COMPANY,

OHIO.

Specification of Letters Patent.-

A'pplication filed December 19, 1912. Serial No.- 737,593:

OE CIJEVELALND, OHIO,- A' CORPORATION OF APPARATUS FOR HANDLING- INGOT-MOLDS.

Patented Sept. 16,191.33.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that we, SAMUEL T. WELL- MAN and HORACE W. LAsH, citizens of the in thecounty of Quyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and'usefullmprovement' in Apparatus for Handling I'ngot-Molds, of which the following. is a full, clear, and'exact description.

The object of this invention is to facilitate the practice, on a commercial scale, of

that method of casting ingots which mvolves the use, in connection with each ingot .mold, of ajarring machine on which the mold. is supported While the molten. metal therein is solidifying;

The invention includes a suitable number of'jarring machines arranged in a row, an

adjacent parallel track for guidance of a train of cars or buggies on whiohthe empty moldsmay be brought to and the filled molds carried from the arring machines, a second adjacent parallel track, and a mold handling machine which runs on the latter track,

and is provided with means wherewith to transfer molds from the arringmachines to the cars, andivice versa. 7

The invention is shownin the accompany claims; 1

a In the drawing, Figure 1" is an end elevaj tion ofan apparatus embodying the-invention. Fig. 2 is a plan which shows a plurality'of'j arringinachines, an adjacent track anda train of mold carrying'car's thereon and a second track and t emold handling machine thereon. In both of these views the mold handling machine is shown more on lessdiagrammatically. That is to say,

without any attempt to show the construction. Fig. 3 is a plan View of a suitable mold handlingmachine" and a mold carrying car and several adjacent jarring ma chines. Fig. 4 is. a side elevation of the same parts. Fig: 5 is a' sectional end view .of'the' mold handling machine in the-plane indicatedhy'line 5'5 on F 4; and Fig; 6 is a sectional end view in t. c plane indicated by line 6-6 on Fig. 4.

Referring to the parts by letters, A A

A3, A, A A219, A A, and A represent jarrin machines whichare arranged in a row; ince thesejarringmachines may vary' widely in construction; provided they are capable of'supporting aningot moldand ofiapplying'thereto a succession of vertlcal vibrations while the metalis solidify- United States, and residents of- Cleveland,

in it has not been thought necessary to show their construction in detail. Adjacentto andpara'llelwvith this row of jarring machinesi's a track B for the guidance ofa "train of cars G. Adjacent to and parallel with the can track mentioned are the rails F, F, which constitute a track for the mold handling machine D." This machine is ,shown rather diagrammatically in Figs. 1 and 2, but is shown with the necessary detail in Figs. 3 and 6, inclusive. The particular construction of this machine is not material to this invention, except to this extent, to wit, the machine must be capable of movement albng'its track, and'must be pro- !vided withmeans by. which the ingot molds may be lifted and transferred from the ;several jarringv machines to the cars, and Evi'ce versa. There-is also a traveling crane' K, orits equivalent ,.which is movable in a pat-hwhich is parallel withtiie tracks B and ,F. l his crane is" provided for thepurpose of carrying the ladle L into positions such" 5 the valve of' the ladle.

As stated, the purpose of this apparatus is toeconomically practise a; process of producing ingots which does not; permit the common practice of filling" the. molds while they are on cars. The process for which thisv apparatus is adapted is one which requires that, when the metal issolidifying' in the molds, such molds must be supported on jarring machines. These jarring machines are rather expensive; and

economical practice-requires that each shall be in use as constantly as-possible. Let us assume, theref'ore,-that on each jarring niachine-A to A, inclusive, is'a filled mold; and that the metal in said mold has-become solid. That is to say, the mold is ready for removal. The problemof how to remove these filled moldsan'd substitute for them empty molds, the shortest time, and with the expenditure ofthe least en ergy; is that which this invention solves by operating in the following manner. Under the stated conditions, a train of cars C is runin on thetrackB. On th-ese cars are at least as many empty ingot molds M as there are filled molds on the jarring machlnes to be removed. Additionally there must be on this train of cars and preferably at one end thereof, say, for example, the left end, as shown in Fig. 2, an empty space capable of receiving a mold. This train of cars is stopped with this-empty space ad acent to the right hand jarring machine A as shown in Fig. 2. The mold handling machine is then moved to a position such that its moldhandling arm is adjacent to this vacant space on the car. The mold handling arm is then moved over the car until the jaws carried by said arm embrace the filled mold on the jarring machine A. This mold is lifted and moved over and deposited on the car in the vacant space referred to. Then and before the jaws have let go their hold upon this filled mold, the mold handling machine D will be moved to the left, as shown in Fig. 1, thereby mov-' ing the train of cars along until the first or left empty mold thereon is adjacent to the 110w empty jarring machine A Then the mold handling arm is operated in such wise that it takes this empty mold from the car and deposits it upon the jarring machine A thereby leaving an empty space on the car. Then the mold handling arm is drawn back so that it may contact with the filled mold which has been deposited on the car, and

then the mold handling machine is moved to the left, thereby moving the train-of cars until the empty space created by moving a mold from-the car to the jarring machine A comes opposite jarring machine A Then the mold handling arm is operated, as before described, to lift the filled mold from jarring machine A and deposit it in the vacated space on the car. These operations are repeated until: the filled molds have been taken from all of the jarring machines arid put onto the cars and empty molds have been taken from the cars and put onto all of the jarring machines. .As shown in Fig. 2 five filled molds have been removed from the jarring machines and deposited on the cars.

As molds are put onto the jarring machines the crane K may be moved along so that the molds on the jarring machines maybe filled with molten metal from the ladle L. When all of the filled molds have been transferred to the train of cars, this train may be run out to a suitable place, where the ingots may be withdrawn from said molds. While this is being done, the jarring machines are in operation agitating and jarring the molten metal which has been put into the molds from the traveling ladle. This method of'handling molds is such as to involve a minimum expenditure of energy in transferring the molds from the cars to the jarring machines, and vice versa, and to involve a minimum of delay in the operation of the jarring machines.

The mold handling machine as shown includes a built up truck or. body comprising t-tvo side members, two transverse beams 2, and wheels 3 adapted to run on track rails F. A transversely movable carriage 4 is movably supported on this truck. ()n this carriage are two shafts 6 and 7, one located above and one below the beams 2. Wheels 8 fixed to shaft ,6 run on top of the beams 2 and other wheels 9 fixed t0 shaft 7 lie beneath and may engage the lower edges of the beams 2. On this carriage an electric motor 10 is mounted, and this is connected by a suitable train of gearing with the two shafts 6 and 7, whereby these shafts and the wheels thereon may be turned in either direction to cause this carriage to move along the beams 2,that is to say, transversely of the truck. A built up jaw carrying arm 12 is rigidly fixed to and forms a part of this carriage. This beam rests upon and is supported by two rollers 14, each of which is mounted in the outer end of a horizontal arm 15, which is secured to a rock shaft 16. Two vertically extended arms 17 are likewise fixed to this rock shaft. The upper ends of these arms are connected by links 18 with a cross head 19, which cross head is connected by links 19 with the cross head 20 of a pressure fluid-motor 20 which is carried by the truck frame. By the operation of this motor the cross head is moved to the right or left, thereby causing the rocking of shaft 16 and the consequent raising or.lowering of the free end of the arm 12. Pivoted to this arm 12 and extending to the left beyond the end of said arm are two jaws 22. The front ends of these jaws are shaped so that they may take hold of the ingot molds. Their rear ends are inclined away from each other, as shown. A reciprocating cross head 23 is movably mounted in the arm 12, and it is connected with the piston rod 24 of a fluid pressure motor 25 which is fixed to the rear end of the arm 12. The cross head 23 carries four vertical studs 26, 28, whereon are friction rollers 27 which engage with the outwardly inclined rear ends of the jaws 22. By moving this cross head outward the studs 26 by engaging the inclined inner faces of the rear ends of the jaws will be caused to close in upon a mold. In moving the cross head in a reverse direction thestuds 28 will engage the outer inclined surfaces at the rear end of the jaws, and the jaws will be caused to open. The shaft 30 is mounted on one end. of the truck and extends from one side to the other thereof. Two drums 31 are fixed to this shaft, and an electric motor 32 is provided for turning the shaft in one direction or the other. Cables 33 are wound upon these drums and extend therefrom in both directions, and the ends of these cables are dead ended, that is to say, secured to fixed supports. By turning these drums, the cables will be taken in from one direction and paid out in the other direction, and thus the mold handling machine will be caused to traverse the tracks.

Having described our invention, We claim:

1. In an apparatus for handling ingot molds, the combination of a row of jarring machines adaptedfor the support of ingot molds, a track alongside of and parallel with said molds, cars on said track adapted to support ingot molds, another adjacent parallel track, a mold handling machine running on the latter track, and mechanism carried by said machine adapted to move molds from the jarring machines to the cars and from the cars to the jarring machines.

2. In an apparatus for handling ingot molds, the combination of a row of jarring machines adapted for the support of ingot molds, a track alongside of and parallel with said molds, cars on said track adapted to support ingot molds, another adjacent parallel track, a mold handling machine running on the latter track, mechanism carried by said machine adapted to move molds from the jarring machines to the cars and from the cars to the jarring machines, and another parallel guideway, a support movable thereon, and a metal ladle carried by said support; a

3. In an apparatus for handling ingot molds, the combination of a row of jarring machines adapted for the support of ingot molds, a trackalongside of and vparallel with said molds, cars on said track adapted to support ingot molds, another adjacent parallel track, a mold. handling machine running on the latter track, mechanism carried by said machine adapted to move molds from the jarring machines 'to the cars and from the cars to the jarring machines, another parallel guideway, a support movable thereon, a metal ladle carried by said support, and a pouring platform sus pended from-said movable support.

In testimony'whereof, We hereunto afiix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

' SAMUEL T. WELLMAN.

HORACE W. LASH. Witnesses:

E. L. THUnsToN, N. L. BREsNnU. 

